We are proud to announce that ATA’s Award for Excellence goes to Pat Williams for her tapestry “Failure to Communicate” exhibited in Threads of Life, which took place April 18 – June 8, 2013 at the Quinlan Center for Visual Arts, Gainesville, GA. The show was organized by Tapestry Weavers South.

Biography

Pat Williams teaches art and weaves in Habersham County, Georgia. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has won several awards. She is a member of the American Tapestry Alliance, Tapestry Weavers South, the National Art Education Association, and she served as juror for the Center Gallery at Sautee Nacoochee Community Association.

Artist Statement

Back in the early 1990’s I started writing my angst in cheap black and white sponged notebooks purchased at Wal Mart and it was like having my own personal psychoanalyst. Later, journaling turned into drawing in the mornings. The pictures drew themselves as I simply turned into that angst energy circling my body. Through the years I’ve strived to be a “better” person. It wears me right out trying to be something I’m not, but the struggle is fodder for images and often makes me laugh. By now, there are a stack of drawings maybe three feet high, and these are kept like money in the bank. Since tapestry is my medium some of the drawings are converted into cartoons for weaving and woven.

Failure to Communicate is a direct result of morning drawings channeled from the ether. My head often buzzes with conversations with this or that person, but I notice that these conversations are purely made up in my mind and NOT actual conversation with another human.

I love the slow process of weaving, the feel, the smell and the vibrant colors of the yarns, the compelling meditative zone of passing over and under the warp, the beauty of the loom, the hand-turned bobbins. There is an endless challenge working with the grid composed of warp and weft—so simple, yet complex.